Get Back

Sadly, my month-long sojourn to Rome is quickly coming to an end. My blog will be a good record of some of my experiences here. I really appreciate all of the encouraging words from you, either through the blog Comments or through e-mail. Glad you liked reading it. I loved writing it.

Here, in no particular order, are some of the sights and sounds I will miss:

• luggage being rolled by newcomers through my piazza, an area pedonale
• the clanking of cups being washed as I walk past a bar
• the bells of Santa Maria in Trastevere
  
• Monica and my entire class at Scuola LDV. It was amazing how we all bonded in such a short period of time.
• Trastevere, a village within a city
• the beauty of the Italian language
• being awed by pieces of antiquity or the Baroque era at every turn of a corner, in this art museum they call a city
• of course, the fabulous restaurants
• being able to share experiences with Corrado, my cousin Ro, Diane, Phyllis, Joanie, LaVonne, Anita and Elaine
  
• unfortunately, my digital camera and 3 weeks of pictures, lost during my pilgrimage to churches! I'll have to rely on my friends' sharing their photos.

There are other memories, too, that I'll process and sort out and share with you all at a later time.You don't think this is the last time you're going to hear about my trip to Rome, do you?? No way. No. Freaking. Way.

See you soon, and....GO PHILS!

Going for Baroque

I have spent the last couple of days on a pilgrimage of sorts, visiting various Baroque churches and monuments. I am sure I must have visited some of them during the past 37 years that I have been coming to Rome, but, for various reasons, my interest in them has been piqued, and I had to get back to them.

Most churches open in the morning, close for several hours in the afternoon, and re-open in the early evening. The wise pilgrim, then, takes great care in planning these visits. I followed other map-readers this morning along Via XX Settembre, a very busy street during rush hour, with cars hurtling by us.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, arguably the greatest master of Baroque in Rome, is responsible for much that I saw. His Quattro Fontane, with a fountain carved into each of four corners, is here. All along Via XX Settembre are important churches, either decorated by Bernini or his competitor, Francesco Borromini, who was responsible for a tiny jewel-box of a church, S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. The interiors are so richly decorated, with a dizzying amount of multi-colored marble, and with elaborate paintings or sculptures gracing the apses and chapels. In Santa Maria della Vittoria, you can see a Bernini masterpiece, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa. This is one of two sculptures (the other being The Ecstasy of Beata Ludovica Albertoni in a church in Trastevere) that shows a woman writhing in, well, ecstasy. These were highly controversial in their day, and still draw an inordinate number of visitors, both the faithful and the curious.

In a nearby piazza are two additional sculptures, Bernini's Fontana del Tritone and Fontane delle Api. The Piazza Barberini is in a tony neighborhood, lined with high-end stores. Taking a break from this morning's mission, I treated myself to a couple of modern, Florentine bracelets. Beautiful! I'm so happy, I want to commission a Bernini sculpture. The Ecstasy of Janet has a nice ring to it, no?

I've Got a Crush on You

Well, as you can see, I took a short hiatus from blogging, since I had several amiche americane visiting me, and I assumed you would rather I actually live my life than blog about it. Well, wouldn't you?

Yesterday, I went with my friends Anita and Elaine to the Ara Pacis for a special exhibition. The Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) was originally built in honor of the peace that came to the Mediterranean after Emporer Augustus conquered Gaul and Spain. Most of the the original altar was lost to floods centuries ago, and a new one was reconstructed last century. In 1999, Richard Meier was commissioned to design an appropriate building to house the Ara Pacis to preserve its magnificent friezes and reliefs carved in Carrara marble, and to create museum space.

The current exhibition in the museum is called Valentino to Rome and is a retrospective of Valentino dresses to commemorate the designer's 45 year career. The staging of the dresses is eye-popping. The designs are grouped by color, not age, and this works brilliantly since all the pieces are timeless and classic, and of course, very beautiful. We swooned over 2 groupings, all the same shade of red, and many of the styles evoked memories of Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O and Elizabeth Taylor.

There were several dozen dresses on the ground floor, as well. Each dress was presented along with a video of the star who wore it, including the vintage Valentino worn by Julia Roberts when she won the Oscar. We were overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the elegance and majesty of the gowns. There's something about being surrounded by such beauty that makes one very, very happy.

Of course, there are many aspects of Italian beauty and I am savoring each one. From magnificent ancient buildings to modern design to splendid fountains to the clever display of products in stores, I am experiencing and appreciating beauty at all times. And last, but not least, let's not forget the Roman people. Both the men and the women are stunning, but, I must stay, the men even more so. To paraphrase author Elizabeth Gilbert, sometimes the men are so good-looking, I want to applaud! Whatever possessed the powers-that-be to smile so brightly on this peninsula, all I can say is grazie!

The Sweetest Thing

I've become quite taken with Roman supermarkets. Unlike their suburban counterparts which sprawl across strip malls and are hubs of family activity, Roman markets are models of efficiency and design. Automatic doors open up to envelop you into a sleek, narrow world with row upon row of pastas, olive oils, and jars of delectables. Around the corner you can find the deli and prepared foods counter. It's impossible to resist the cheeses, roasted peppers and salume you see displayed beautifully in the cases. I try to be sensible as I pick and choose my purchases. After all, it's not as though I'm actually going to cook anything. I haven't cooked a thing since I arrived, unless you count making coffee and toasting bread cooking. I live in an area where the streets are clogged with restaurants, bars and pizzerias, and eating out is part of my daily entertainment. One British reviewer said of Trastevere, "We are spoilt for choice" and I like it like that!

I pass through the Campo dei Fiori (literally, Field of Flowers, but actually an outdoor market) on my way to and from school everyday. Here, too, I find it impossilbe not to slow down to take in the sights, sounds and aromas in that piazza. The vendors' carts are loaded with flowers and vegetables of every kind and color.And the fruit! The fruit alone is worth the walk. Today I bought peaches and melons that are literally bursting with flavor. They remind me of the way fruit used to taste, or maybe I'm just imagining that I ate fruit like this before. I also bought something I was afraid were already out of season - fragolini, the tiny, thin, sweet strawberries from the hills outside of Rome. Delizioso! I can't wait to "cook" my fruit with my cereal tomorrow morning!

My Old School

I started Italian language class this week, one of the major reasons I decided to stay in Rome for a month. The school is called Scuola Leonarda da Vinci (what else would it be called?), and it attracts students of all ages from around the globe. In my classroom, there are 10 students and, to my surprise, I am the only American. My classmates come from all across Europe and one student, Padre Giovanni, is from Ecuador. Our teacher, Monica, is everything a teacher should be. She knows how to capture our attention, and she is warm and funny and has gotten to know each of us personally.

What is fascinating about my classmates is that Italian is not the second language for any of them. It is the third, fourth, or even fifth. Without fail, all of them speak English, and that's the language we all use during breaks when we talk to each other.And, without fail, I am the one who has the most difficulty speaking in class (although I must say that some of the students have rather unfortunate accents, particularly those from northern Europe.) These students show such facility switching from one language to another and this facility has proved to be of such value to them, that I rue the fact that my parents' generation felt the need to become assimilated into the American culture as quickly as possible and forego the language of the Old Country. I, too, could have been "hard-wired" for learning languages. I have a renewed appreciation for newer immigrants to America who insist on preserving their native language so that their children could be multilingual in this global economy. May the "English Only" movement in the States never succeed!

One of the most gifted students, Franci (as she likes to be called) from Germany, is a hard-working young lady of 20. She takes her lessons very seriously, and is off to the library every day after class to do her homework and study. She can always be counted on to have the correct answers to Monica's questions. Franci and I have become friends in class, and she has kindly offered to study with me, because, as she put it, she would learn a lot by helping me. Yesterday I told her I would take her up on her offer the next day. As I waited around after class for her today, books in hand, eager to study with her, Franci approached me timidly to tell me she couldn't stay after class with me after all, because she was going shopping for shoes! I just laughed and told her I understood perfectly. After all, we're in Rome! Even the most conscientious student has to come to her senses and succumb to some of Rome's earthly delights some time. Can't wait to see her shoes tomorrow!

Into the Mystic

Back in the first century AD, when Catholicism was an outlawed religion, Catholics in Rome took to meeting in secrecy, usually in houses they considered safe from prying eyes. These houses were called titulus houses, and they frequently formed the foundations of parish churches, built when Emporer Constantine legalized the religion in the 4th Century. Over the centuries, many of these churches have been destroyed and rebuilt.

I live around the corner from a famous titulus church, Santa Maria in Trastevere. It is thought to be the oldest parish church dedicated to Mary, and it is certainly one of the most beautiful with 12th century mosaics by Pietro Cavallini. It is believed that St. Peter prayed here. The church is an important fixture in the neighborhood. Its bells ring the time, every fifteen minutes, day and night. These bells have become a source of comfort and reassurance for me, signaling that all is as it should be.

One of the most interesting features is a statue of St. Anthony with literally hundreds of handwritten notes posted on the statue and around the feet of the saint. Given the reputation that St. Anthony has of helping to locate lost items, I can only surmise that many of these notes are petitioning him to find and return such items. I have a picture of the statue and will post it here when I get home.

Yesterday I visited the church of San Clemente. This is one of the most interesting sites to archaeologists. The current church was built above the site of two previous churches which, in turn, was built on the site of an ancient Mithraic temple, a religion which competed with Catholicism to take root in the first century. We visited the temple, way down below ground level, and saw frescoes of the Mithraic faithful drinking bull's blood. The place is amazingly well-preserved, and evocative of ancient times as we could hear the rushing waters of the acqueduct!

Above us, outside, the peaceful streets surrounding the Colosseum and other ancient sites are studded with beautiful buildings for modern-day Romans, once again providing the contrast between old and new.

Modern Love

The recent death of Luciano Pavarotti prompted me to wonder how Italians, overwhelmingly Catholic, accepted the famous tenor's famous divorce from Adua, his wife of several decades, and subsequent marriage to Nicoletta, his former assistant, several years his junior. It seems it depends on whom you ask.

I spent a few hours in the pronto soccorso, emergency room, the other day. I waited a couple of hours before seeing the doctor, because my foot injury was not life-threatening (and is almost completely healed now). I shared the waiting room with a rather animated middle-aged woman, who, while knowing only one word of English, made herself completely understood with gestures and facial expressions. Actually, she reminded me very much of someone who might have lived in my neighborhood in South Philadelphia, back in the day. The signora was reading a magazine article on Pavarotti and after going through the motions of ripping her clothes and crying over his death, pointed to a picture of Nicoletta, made the sign of the evil eye, and repeated, "Money, money, money." It was clear to me where this woman, whose children call her Mamma Pazza (Crazy Mom) , stood on Pavarotti's leave-taking of Adua.

I got quite a different reaction today, at Sunday lunch, with Guido and Alessandra, good friends with my good friends Michael and Corrado. M & C were very anxious that I meet this lovely couple. Guido, a pathologist who was a resident with Corrado in a Rome hospital, and Alessandra, who works in the Senate in the diplomacy office, explained that most Italians, while still strongly family-oriented, are very secular in matters of the heart. I asked, munching on my portion of a timballo of rigatoni, pancetta, tomatoes and mozzarella, if anyone they knew renounced Pavarotti because of his private life. They said no, it is simply not the business of others if people divorce and re-marry. They responded to Luciano's story with a shrug of the shoulders.

I suspect that the majority of Italians probably share this viewpoint, although I want to thank Mamma Pazza for entertaining me for a couple of hours and I hope her shoulder is feeling better.

Two quick points:
My consultation with the doctor and subsequent X-ray cost me zero, zilch, nada, niente. The intake worker asked only to see my passport.

Alessandra assured me that many American politicians were very much committed to the idea of diplomacy to deal with problems between countries. I was happy to hear that that was her experience of Americans, despite the current mess our government has made of things.